Welcome to the home of Noah Brier. I'm the co-founder of Variance and general internet tinkerer. Most of my writing these days is happening over at Why is this interesting?, a daily email full of interesting stuff. This site has been around since 2004. Feel free to get in touch. Good places to get started are my Framework of the Day posts or my favorite books and podcasts. Get in touch.

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Did Race Cost Obama New Hampshire?

A bunch of interesting theories on why the pollsters were so far off in New Hampshire. One theory is called The Bradley Effect, where white voters say they will vote for a non-white candidate and then end up not. As Andrew Sullivan explains, New Hampshire was “the first primary – not a caucus. People get to vote in a secret ballot – not in front of their largely liberal peers, as in Iowa. They may have told the pollsters one thing about voting for a black man, but in the privacy of the voting booth, something else happens.”

Another interesting theory from the article: The order of the names listed on the ballot. The random starting letter was ‘Z’ and therefore Clinton showed up much higher than Obama did.

January 10, 2008